Author: Kharatian Ani

CINEMATOGRAPHY IS A WONDERFUL MEAN TO START DIALOGUE AMONG PEOPLES OF CONFLICTING COUNTRIES, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF “GOLDEN APRICOT” SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jun 07 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 7, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “Directors Across
Borders” two-day working seminar will be held on July 12-13, during
the days of the “Golden Apricot” (Voske Tsiran) 3rd international
film festival. World famous film directors, film makers, film
critics, representatives of international funds from the region,
CIS and European countries will participate in the seminar. Susanna
Haroutiunian, the Artistic Director of the festival stated about it
at the June 7 press-conference.

According to her, during the seminar days, participants of the
“Directors Across Borders” program will present their observations
and programs on regional cooperation, including implementation of
joint film production and programs on cinematography. The foudation
meeting of the “Directors Across Borders” international organization
will take place during the days of the festival, the staff of the
Board of Trustees of the organization will be affirmed.

Besides, a special program of “Directors Across Borders” films will be
shown during the “Golden Apricot-2006” festival days. 20 films from
20 countries are involved in the program, among them Azeri director
Ayas Salayev’s “Near Distant Village” as well as a film dedicated to
bordering villages shot by Armenian and Azeri two directors.

According to S.Haroutiunian, this program is of global meaning
as ethnic conflicts exist not only in this region but in Israel,
Palestine, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, etc. Cinematography is a wonderful
mean to start a dialogue between peoples of conflicting sides, that’s
why, as S.Haroutiunian emphasized, the program was warmly received
and sponsored by the European Cultural Parliament.

The “Directors Across Borders” program was started during the days
of the “Golden Apricot” 2nd international film festival. The primary
task of the program is to reveal general problems characteristical
for the region and particularly for South Caucasian countries of
transit period, to support development of dialogue in the region
with the help of cinema. As a result of activity of the year a net
of cinematographers of the region was formed in which more than 50
members of 12 countries are involved.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: KOCHARIAN AND ALIYEV AGAIN COULD NOT SOLVE IN BUCHAREST PROBLEM ARISEN IN RAMBOUILLET

Noyan Tapan
June 06 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, NOYAN TAPAN. “That problem that Presidents
attempted to solve in Rambouillet, and that was not succeeded,
they were not able solve in Bucharest, either,” RA Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian informed journalists about it on June 5, commenting
upon results of the Bucharest meeting of the Presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan. According to the Minister, in spite of the fact,
that Co-Chairmen proposed formulations and new approaches on the
Karabakh issue, the Presidents did not manage to agree. According to
the Minister, however, there is an instruction to Foreign Ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue negotiations and “attempt to
find common borders maybe just on the occasion of that issue till
the President’s next meeting.”

ISSUE OF COOPERATION BETWEEN CE AND ARMENIAN JUDICIAL SYSTEMS DISCUSSED

Noyan Tapan
Jun 06 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 6, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Cassation Court Chairman Hovhannes
Manukian and representatives of the Council of Europe Management
on Judicial Issues Alessandro Manchini, Jose Maria and Special
Representative of CE Secretary General Boyana Urumova discussed
the issue of cooperation between the Council of Europe and Armenian
judicial systems in separate directions at the June 6 meeting. They
considered works on creation of a judicial school, retraining of
judges among the prior ones for cooperation. In particular, it was
mentioned that the Council of Europe has already worked out a program
for assisting creation of a judicial school. It is planned to start
the program from September. Besides Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Moldova
and the Ukraine are also involved in the program. 3 representatives of
each country will take part in the program. They will get acquainted
with the works of the Spanish judicial school.

CE representatives greeted the works aimed at creating an efficient
judicial system. H.Manukian on his part expressed readiness to
cooperate in all spheres that will be considered priority by the
Council of Europe.

TV CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO THE ANNUAL REPORT ON TRAFFICKING

ArmRadio.am
07.06.2006 10:18

US Embassy in Armenia is organizing today a TV conference dedicated to
the annual report on trafficking issued by the Department of State. The
guest of the conference is the Assistant Secretary of State, Head of
the Department on Trafficking John Miller.

CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel:+995 32 75 19 03/04
Fax:+995 32 75 19 05
E-mail: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
URL: <;

Call for Letters of Interest

The UNDP/GEF project Reducing Transboundary Degradation of the
Kura-Aras River Basin and the Environment and Security Initiative are
pleased to announce this call for letters of interest for NGO
participation in the third international workshop entitled `Involving
Civil Society in Transboundary Water Resource Management – The
Inaugural NGO Forum’ that will be dedicated to the inauguration of NGO
Forum charter. During this meeting NGOs will discuss the future of the
NGO Forum, the role it can play in the region and suggest input into
international projects.

During the workshop participants will be updated on the progress of
the cross-border water projects that are financially supported by
international donors.

Representatives from non-governmental organizations from Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey with activities in the sphere of
environmental protection and water resource management in the Kura and
Aras River Basin are invited to submit letters of interest. The
workshop will take place in Gudauri, Georgia, in mid July of 2006. The
working languages of the workshop will be English with simultaneous
translation into Russian provided. The expenses of the selected
participants, including travel, accommodation, and meals, will be
covered by a limited grant to the NGO Forum from UNDP.

The letters of interest should be 1-2 pages in length and include the
following information:

* Participant’s name, title, organization, and contact information
* Brief description of the participant’s organization (no more than
½ page)
* As mentioned above, the major activities of the workshop will be
discussed on the future of the NGO Forum. Please describe in detailed
how you see the role of the NGO Forum in the future in the Kura Aras basin
region and what activities you suggest be taken by the NGO Forum to
involve civil society and the public in the water resources management of the
region.

The deadline for submitting letters of interest is 6 pm on Monday, June
12, 2005.

Those wishing to participate who are not selected are welcome to
attend at their own expense. Please notify Nino Tevzadze for details.

Letters of interest should be submitted to [email protected], with
copies (cc) to: [email protected]

For program questions, please contact:
[email protected]
or [email protected]

Participants will be notified of their acceptance by end of June, 2006.
Looking forward of seeing you in Gudauri!

LA TURQUIE ET L’ARMENIE ESSAYENT DE NORMALISER LEURS RELATIONS
Thierry Ogier

Les Echos
1 juin 2006

La Turquie a annonce hier des rencontres entre diplomates avec
l’Armenie pour tenter de normaliser ses relations. Actuellement,
elle n’entretient pas de relations diplomatiques avec ce pays voisin.

Trois series d’entretiens exploratoires ont deja eu lieu depuis
l’an dernier entre des sous-secretaires d’Etat adjoints aux Affaires
etrangères. La Turquie a reconnu l’Armenie peu après son independance
en 1991, mais n’a jamais etabli de relations diplomatiques avec
l’ancienne republique sovietique en raison de la controverse sur le
genocide dont les Armeniens estiment avoir ete victimes dans les
dernières annees de l’Empire ottoman, de 1915 a 1917. La Turquie
avait propose l’an dernier la creation d’une commission conjointe
afin d’enqueter sur ces evenements. Erevan a repondu par un “oui”
conditionnel, declarant qu’il fallait au prealable etablir “des
relations normales” entre les deux pays.

–Boundary_(ID_qLqYNPAjwzgwMBAEId9GnA)–

PRIOR TO CRASH PILOTS OF A320 SPOKE ARMENIAN

AZG Armenian Daily
01/06/2006

Decoding of the “black boxes” of A320 Armavia jet will last nearly
two months, Russia’s transport minister Igor Levitin said. According
to Russian printed media, Levitin noted that parameter data recorder
has around 300 parameters taped and decoding of this information can
last from 1.5 to 2 months.

As to the cockpit voice recorder that was retrieved first, Armenian
specialists will join Russian decoders as the pilots spoke Armenian
prior to the crash, Levitin reported.

According to Leonid Kashirski, head of the technical commission of
the intergovernmental committee on crash investigation, data on both
recorders are in good condition. Yet, the process of decoding has
given no result so far.

ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW SPEAKER

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 1 2006

YEREVAN, June 1 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s parliament, the National
Assembly, elected a new speaker Thursday following the resignation
of the previous incumbent in May.

The new man is 50-year-old Tigran Torosyan, the head of Armenia’s
delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
and deputy chairman of the country’s Republican Party.

Torosyan’s name was the only one put forward for the position and was
backed by five parliamentary groups, although two opposition factions
refused to take part in the voting.

Artur Bagdasaryan resigned from the post after his party announced
on May 11 that it was pulling out of the ruling coalition.

AZERBAIJAN CANNOT PUT UP WITH THE IDEA

A1+
[04:13 pm] 31 May, 2006

“Azerbaijan is for the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict
and thinks that we have chances for it,” Defense Minister of Azerbaijan
Safar Abiev announced during the session of the CIS Ministers’ Council.

He announced that “enormous amounts of military equipment is
concentrated in the occupied areas and illegal sale of weapon and
drugs is realized there.”

“All this creates conditions for increasing risks,” the Minister said.

Abiev also underlined that “it is time to recognize Armenia as
aggressor and demand them to leave the Azeri territories.”

“The Azeri nation will never put up with the loss of its territories
and will use all the possibilities of international right in order
to regain its territorial integrity,” Safar Abiev concluded, agency
“Trend” reports.

HOLIDAY OF FIRST REPUBLIC MARKED AT SARDARAPAT MEMORIAL

ARMAVIR, MAY 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The main events
dedicated to the Holiday of First Republic were held on May 28 at the
Sardarapat memorial. RA President Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister
Andranik Margarian, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, RA MPs,
government members, high-ranking representatives of the diplomatic
corps accredited in Armenia had visited Sardarapat. The Armavir
inhabitants gave the guests an official welcome and met them with
zourna (type of flute) and dhol. Then RA President and the
high-ranking officials went up to the church-tower where they laid
wreaths and stood in silence to respect the memory of the Armenians
who died in the Sardarapat heroic struggle. On the way to the museum
the communities of Armavir had presented samples of traditional
domestic art and craft. President Robert Kocharian, the government
members and other guests helped themselves to the refreshments of the
Armavir inhabitants. The event was accompanied by concert
performances, song and dance.